The second day of training camp featured a significantly faster tempo throughout practice. The pace seemed to benefit Lamar Jackson, his passes were crisp with tight spirals. His emphasis on footwork was evident, Lamar was spraying bullets around the field. Backup quarterback Robert Griffin III showed off a live arm as well.
Mark Andrews was an absolute ball magnet on Friday, he was seemingly targeted on every repetition he took. All of the tight ends were peppered with targets in team drills. Versatile two-way contributor Patrick Ricard worked at tight end and rookie receiving tight end Charles Scarff was heavily involved.
Although Orlando Brown Jr. and Jermaine Eluemunor were dressed and participating, James Hurst and Ben Powers received the majority of the work with the first unit. Powers impressed with some seal blocks in the run game. Eluemunor’s foot quickness seemed improved in position drills. At center, Bradley Bozeman filled in during Matt Skura’s excused absence, behind him Randin Crecelius struggled snapping the ball.
Jaleel Scott turned in a tremendous practice. On his highlight play, he went up and ‘moss’ed’ Stanley Jean-Baptiste to haul in a contested catch deep down the sideline. Scott made several tough catches on Friday and has been refining his route running. Seth Roberts primarily served as an outside receiver and looks the part with a nice combination of size and speed. Roberts secured perhaps the only completed pass of the day against Marlon Humphrey and also caught a rare completion underneath Jimmy Smith’s coverage.
Veteran Michael Floyd is not necessarily fast, but does possess decent build-up speed. When covered, he knows how to use leverage to outmuscle defenders at the catch point. Chris Moore has been slightly out of sync with Lamar so far and Jordan Lasley’s hands remain inconsistent.
It is difficult to glean much for the running backs until the pads come on. Nonetheless, Tyler Ervin showed off excellent burst between the tackles and an extra gear when returning kickoffs. Gus Edwards is in terrific shape and consistently hits the hole hard. Justice Hill was a catch and run weapon out of the backfield, De’Lance Turner also made some plays as a receiver, and Kenneth Dixon showed off some quick jump cuts.
On defense, the groupings were mostly unchanged from Thursday. While Humphrey and Jimmy Smith were at cornerback, Brandon Carr did some cross training at free safety. For the second day in a row, rookie Iman Marshall broke up an accurate pass. Patrick Onwuasor also batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage and Anthony Averett had a PBU downfield.
Chris Board continues to work on his run fits as a first team inside linebacker. Potential backup Matthew Thomas brings sideline to sideline range against the run. UDFA Otaro Alaka also fared well in his limited opportunity.
The edge rushers were disruptive in 11-ons. Matthew Judon and Tim Williams collapsed the pocket off the right side. Then Shane Ray disrupted the next play off left tackle. Towards the end of practice Tyus Bowser ‘sacked’ Lamar Jackson.
Up front, UDFA Gerald Willis knifed into the backfield on several occasions. Conversely, Chris Wormley appears a bit slow off the ball. The defensive line battle will begin to take shape during the first padded practice on Saturday night at M&T Bank stadium.